Wednesday, May 30, 2012

On Saturday 12th May 2012 "an mitan mwa a méméwa", workers, the people of Guadeloupe and Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon (LKP) mobilised peacefully around the Milénis shopping centre, one of the two "profitation" centres in the country of Guadeloupe. The gendarmes and police very soon stopped the demonstrators and blocked any access to the shopping centre until 6.0pm.

With a superstore like Carrefour, the Milénis shopping centre is the very illustration of how the workers and people of Guadeloupe are abused. The Milénis Carrefour, as well as being the champion for profiteering on prices, especially on food products, is also an employer of many low-wage workers concerned by the Jacques BINO agreement of 26th February 2009.

In accordance with the convertibility clause -- article V of the Bino agreement -- the Milénis Carrefour should have begun implementing as of the 1st March 2012 the payment of a 200 Euro increase for low-wage workers, given that Carrefour had benefited by subsidies from the State, local authorities and Social Security.

In fact, the RSTA, a specific monthly 100 Euro benefit in certain French colonies, was created by the French government so that for 3 years, tax payers instead of bosses, would finance part of the 200 Euro increase in low wages in Guadeloupe.

Since the 1st March 2012, the Milénis Carrefour, like other companies that signed the Bino agreement and follow the recommendations of the MEDEF (bosses' organisation) in Guadeloupe, has refused to implement the convertibility clause and hence violates the agreement signed. On the pretext that the State is prolonging the RST payment and exemption from paying in social contributions they assert that these provisions automatically entail the convertibility clause being postponed.

This assertion is a case of manipulation, even of dishonesty, because a State aid being prolonged, cannot in itself change an agreement negotiated between contracting parties, by automatically postponing the implementation of an article. The agreement signed the 26th February 2009 refers to the State aid, clearly stating their length of time: 36 months i.e. 3 years. The agreement makes no provision for this aid being prolonged: it is therefore clear that the convertibility clause is planned to be implemented as from the 1st March 2012.

As a reminder, Article 1134 of the Civil Code provides that "collective bargaining agreements legally entered into are as law to those who made them". It is therefore not possible to change them without agreement on the side of the contracting parties. The 26th February 2009 agreement is an agreement for an unspecified length of time that can be modified according to the provisions of Article L.2261-1 of labour legislation. Seeing that the initial agreement does not provide for a revision clause, jurisprudence considers, that on the one hand, unanimous consent of the signatories of the agreement is necessary for starting revision procedure and on the other, that only the organisations that have signed, have authority to sign the endorsement of revision. 'Soc.13 Nov 2008.D.2008.AJ 3090).

It is clear, "yo vlé kouyonné nou, kontinyé kouyonné nou é tchouyé akow BINO" ( "they want to make suckers of us , they continue to make suckers of us, and they make the BINO agreement fail"). We remind you that several hundred workers who get less than 1.4 of the minimum wage (SMIC) have never been paid the RSTA, nor what the county or the region should have paid, since the latter have changed the wage reference.

What's more, since the bringing in of the supplementary activity revenue (RSA) the 1st January 2011 and according to Decree N° 2010-1784 the RSTA is only paid out to wage earners "having received this benefit in November 2010 or December 2010" AND "on condition" that they have had "no interruption in their right (to the RSTA) any longer than 2 consecutive months " AND that no member of the household "receives the active solidarity revenue".

In clear: Workers who, in November and December 2010, were in training, were unemployed, still students, or employed in France cannot receive the RSTA 100 Euro benefit and will never have a right to it ! Workers who, between the 1st January 2011 and the 31st December 2012 had a minimum period of 2 month's unemployment cannot receive the RSTA 100 Euro benefit and will never have the right to it !

Workers with a partner or a dependent child, who receive the RSA benefit - basic or complementing activity - are being denied the RSTA 100 Euro benefit!

Once more "yo bouzwen fè nou pran dlo-mouchach pou lèt"!

The result of their lies and refusal to pay up, is therefore discrimination against workers on account of their professional career and family reality. Pou menm trava-laa, tini sa ki ka gannyé 100 E é sa ki ka pa gannyé ! (For the same work there are those who can earn 100 Euros and those who cannot earn them !) This ultimately is the pure and simple disappearance of the BINO agreement.

It is to denounce this new mascarade of the profiteers and this unacceptable discrimination that the LKP was present peacefully on Saturday 12th May in front of the Milénis shopping centre in order to obtain the 200 Euros for every worker !

But it is also to put a stop to the unbearable profiteering (pwofitasyon) on staple goods that the LKP mobilised Saturday 12th May to denounce the "agoulou gran fal " of the super stores.

For three years now the LKP has demanded that the State respect the commitments made on controlling the price of staple goods ;

For three years now the LKP has been demanding that the big super stores implement the reduction of dock dues accorded by the region in October 2009 to the detriment of the budget of the 32 Communes of Guadeloupe.